Old School Tattoo Designs

Old school tattoo designs, also known as American traditional tattoo designs refer mostly to the Western tattoo style. Tattoos appeared in the Western world quite recently; thus, the only people who had seen tattooed people were sailors. Asian and Polynesian tribes have traditionally old and rich tattoo culture — sailors used their knowledge to create the very special traditional tattoo art. That’s why old school flashes are mostly nautical: anchors, sailors, mermaids, nautical stars, boats, water, daggers, swallows, dices and also pinups and beautiful women.

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Being far away from home, you miss your beloved ones desperately — and sailors left their beloved women on the land. Their tattooed portraits made them closer. Other traditional tattoo flashes were defensive against theevil powers of the sea or symbolized different nautical achievements.

And of course we should mention the most popular old school tattoo artist — Sailor Jerry. For the entire life he was a sailor, even when he started his tattoo artist career by opening a tattoo shop in Hawaii. He left the great traditional tattoo legacy after his death. Traditional tattoo drawings are usually made in bright colors and thick black outlines — thus they look rude compared to many other tattoo styles.